Federal Court relies on expert report by VRP Director Dr. Matt Barreto in New Jersey v. Trump striking down Trump EO on birthright citizenship

Dr. Barreto authored expert report documenting the Trump birthright citizenship ban would harm state efforts to provide health care and other state services to the immigrant community

LOS ANGELES (July 25, 2025) — United States District Judge Leo T. Sorokin issued a nationwide injunction blocking President Trump’s executive order which sought to end birthright citizenship for children of non-citizens born in the United States. Judge Sorokin of the District of Massachusetts sided with 18 plaintiff states in finding that the would suffer irreparable financial and administrative burdens, in part relying on a 100-page expert report submitted by Dr. Matt Barreto, faculty director of the UCLA Voting Rights Project.

Judge Sorokin wrote that “the plaintiffs supported their legal arguments with dozens of sworn declarations from subject-matter experts and public officials describing harms the Executive Order will visit upon the plaintiffs,” and added that “the Court accepts and credits” the plaintiffs’ “declarations, which the defendants have not disputed or rebutted in any way,” and which the Court finds credible and reliable.”

Dr. Barreto submitted an expert report in collaboration with the State of New Jersey Office of the Attorney General which included a comprehensive review of social science literature documenting the “chilling effect” that is visited upon immigrant communities during periods of intense immigration enforcement and fear. His report concluded that an overwhelming and uncontested finding in the social science literature is that executive orders such as the one issued by President Trump will create an environment of fear, anxiety and avoidance whereby immigrant communities will fear that their U.S. born American citizen children could be at risk of deportation and not sign up for state services including vaccines, health care, public school programs, and much more.

In addition, Barreto analyzed a 2025 survey of Latino immigrants and found that those most fearful of Trump immigration enforcement, especially those with U.S. born children, were already practicing avoidance and withdrawal. Judge Sorokin wrote that the Barreto report provided critical facts by “summarizing a survey regarding noncitizen public engagement, including avoidance of public health services and other interactions by noncitizen families with children, and describing chilling effect and confusion that arise when immigration related laws are not uniform nationwide.”

The case could head back to the U.S. Supreme Court for further review, but as of July 2025 there is a nationwide injunction blocking the executive order by President Trump.

ABOUT THE UCLA VOTING RIGHTS PROJECT

The UCLA Voting Rights Project is the marquee advocacy project of the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles and is focused on voting rights litigation, research, policy, and training. The UCLA Voting Rights Project addresses monumental and overlooked gaps in the field of voting rights: how to train young lawyers and researchers, support the development of new legal and methodological theories for voting rights cases, and how to advance policy work to ensure that there is a new generation of leaders who are pursuing efforts to guarantee all citizens have equal and fair access to our democracy. The project was founded by Chad W. Dunn, J.D., and Matt Barreto, Ph.D. The UCLA Voting Rights Project is located within the Luskin School of Public Affairs.
To learn more about the UCLA Voting Rights Project, please visit: vrp.ucla.edu